Community news: Youth council has open house; Great Bay Scallop Search; volunteer opportunities

Youth Advisory Committee open house: Teens can get information on the committee and learn how they can participate in local government. Members coordinate the Teens Behind the Scenes program that gives high school students a look at county facilities to see how services are provided. Other projects, including community service, will be planned for the school year. To qualify, students must be in high school, live in the county, have a desire to learn about county government and serve until graduation from high school. The open house will be held at 3 p.m. Aug. 21, at the Pinellas County Courthouse, 315 Court St., Clearwater, in the fifth-floor Commissioners Conference Room. For information, call (727) 582-2656 or visit pinellascounty.org/yac.

Great Bay Scallop Search: Tampa Bay Watch needs volunteer boats to participate in the Great Bay Scallop Search on Saturday. The event is a resource-monitoring program in which volunteers snorkel to search for scallops in select areas in Boca Ciega Bay and lower Tampa Bay. The goal is to monitor and document the health and status of the scallop population. Volunteers with shallow draft boats are needed. Registered scallop searchers will meet at 9 a.m. at the eastern side of the Fort De Soto Boat Ramp, 3500 Pinellas Bayway S, Tierra Verde. For information, call (727) 867-8166 or visit tampabaywatch.org.

Be a fall vendor: The Gulfport Tuesday Fresh Market is accepting applications for vendors for the fall season. Specialty vendors, including those selling seafood, cheese and gourmet food products, are encouraged to apply. Applicants will need to submit a brief overview of what they intend to vend, pictures of their products and an outline of where they are, or have been, vending. Vendors must be properly licensed, and food vendors must provide product details along with their application. The season begins Oct. 1 and runs through June. For information, call (727) 278-4285 or email gulfportmarket[email protected]

Volunteers needed: St. Petersburg General Hospital needs volunteers in the gift shop on weekends from 4 to 8 p.m.; in patient care, flexible hours; in the OB/GYN department, flexible hours; and at the information desk, weekends with both morning and evening hours available. The hospital is at 6500 38th Ave. N. For information, call Anita Brown at (727) 341-4848.

Need to relax? Go fishing: St. Petersburg Parks and Recreation has opened 19 freshwater and two saltwater lakes through Labor Day. Fishing is allowed from 8 a.m. to 8 p.m. daily. A license is required, except for children 15 and under, anyone using a pole without a reel in his home county, or Florida residents over age 65. Licenses are available at tax collector offices at 1067 62nd Ave. S and 1800 66th St. N in St. Petersburg, 13025 Starkey Road in Largo and 1663 Gulf-to-Bay Blvd. in Clearwater and from select bait and sporting goods stores. For information, call (727) 464-7777.

Neighborly Meals on Wheels: Volunteers are needed to deliver meals to homebound residents in Clearwater, St. Petersburg, Gulfport and Pinellas Park. If you have 1 ½ hours at midday to help, you could improve someone's life. Call (727) 573-9444, ext. 4210.

Burn & Tone: Lose weight and inches while revving up energy at this class for people 16 and older. Classes are from 7 to 7:45 a.m. Monday through Friday. Cost is $5. St. Pete Beach Community Center, 7701 Boca Ciega Drive.

Florida continues to improve its plan for modernizing the interstate system in Tampa Bay. The Florida Department of Transportation has unveiled four new options for rebuilding I-275 near downtown Tampa, and some of them would ditch previous plans for toll lanes downtown while keeping express lanes for faster, …